The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1887-11-02
DURHAM. NORTH CAROLINA WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER :, 1851


his fame was full. The lofty pile will
rise, and the bronze will reproduce
! the aorm and features on his charger
But Why?
| Dear son of memory, great heir OF
! fame,
What need'st thou such weak witness
OF thy name. 2"
The military reputation Of ROBERT
EDMUND LEE win live through the
ages. His clrear as soldier will
be admired; because it is absolutely
without spot or q stain. His cam.
paigns will be studied BY all military
Students and generals; because they
were the productions wrought out by
an imperial genius. who was forced
10 supply the need OF men, arms, and
munitions Of war, from the resources
of his own great intellect. 1t was
that fha Scottish chleitalns
Zone blast from his bugle horn
We're worth ten thousand men,"
It is literally true, that from the
resources of his imperial genius, he
bad to supply the need of more than
Ten thousand men, and this was most
clearly demonstrated at Chancellors.
vile, where with one third of his
army away; he met and defeated the
finest army!on the PLANET"
The campaigns OF he "Seven Days
Around Richmond" the Maryland
campaign including the brilliant and
masterly strategic maneuvers which
eliminated in the crushing defeaJ Of
the Feierals at Second Manassas; the
splendid combinations and strategy,
BY which he brought his army to con-
front the Federals on their native soil,
in the rocky ramparts Of Gettysburg.
where the Confederacy received the
death-wound past all the help Of brave
men ard a mastery le,der. Over
these splendid fields where the sun of
victory shone in full orbed glory, the
gluom and disastersos Petersburg and
Appomattox can, never cast a single
ray of shade or shadow. They will
always be bright in the annals OF
military history; they will never
grow dim; but will always be placed
IN the lists of battles where genius
and gallantry have triumphed sig
nally over the over.mastering num-
bers of the antagonist.
It were useless to attempt 10 com.
pare LEE with some Of The great
generals OF antiquity or of modern
times. He was no copiest, no imi
tator. He was as original as Hannl.
bal or Cesar, Gastayus Adllphus.
Frederic or Napoleon. He stands
alone on his own pedestal bold, !,
striking, original his campaigns
proclalming him one of the great
masters IN tho art of war and sec, nd
To none. . n
Failing as did Hannibal and Ma.
poleon, the grandeur of the moral
character, and greatness of LEE stands
aut in bold contrast to that of the
corsican Emperor and the great
Cathagenian general. Some one has
pathetically said that we must al.
ways Leave Hannibal at Zama and
Napoleon at Waterloo. The one
forever engaged in useless plots
ag,iust the Romans, and a fugitive
from court to court Of intriguing
kings, until he finally committed sui
eide. The other, on account o.
stained aud tarnished honor and
broken faith, chained, like an .ther
Prdmethens, to the volcanic rocks Of
st. Helena, where the vultures Of un
wholly ambition forever tore his vi.
tails, until death stilled the tempes.
t"us genius. We may well leave Han
nibal at Zama and Napoleon AZ
Waterloo but We do not leave LEE
at Appomatttx.
Quietly subm ting to inevitable
fate, he went to work as good citizen
to re.habilitate the soil whereon he
WAS born. He took the Presidency of
Washington College, for which he
was well prepared by having served
many years as superintendent of th,
Military Academy at West Point.
Gathering around him large body
Of generous youth from the South, he
trained them for the high and holy
duty of American citizenship. In the
Chapel Of Washington and Lee Unit
versity, the dust of the hera, the sol
der, the ci'rz,n. the christian educa-
tor sleeps bis last sleep.
Over his tomb, is the marble form
of the'great chieftain most trotllfully
carved by the chisel of Valentine,
that recalls somewhat to life, the form
aid { fatures of one who ennobled